A change of heart is needed

March 30, 2014

I would advise Rob Denham to go back to his Bible and read more of what it and Jesus have to say about charity. There's no need to cherry-pick scripture when it comes to what is said over and over concerning helping those less fortunate.

Would Denham have the courage to accuse Pope Francis of trying to rid the world of Judeo-Christianity or claim that he quotes scripture the way Satan quotes it? The leader of the Catholic Church has repeatedly condemned the "widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs." He's called upon the world to reject trickle down economics and the economy of exclusion and inequality because "such an economy kills."

Perhaps Denham should look into the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus if he wants to condemn liberals for insisting that people take care of the have-nots. He'd discover that the rich man lived in luxury while a beggar named Lazarus laid at his gate longing to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. But the rich man did nothing to help him. When Lazarus died, he was rewarded with heaven. The rich man was doomed to spend eternity in torment and so asked Abraham if Lazarus could come and dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue.

Abraham reminded the rich man that he had received good things during his lifetime while ignoring Lazarus's suffering. Now Lazarus was comforted and the rich man would suffer for eternity.

So the rich man asked if Lazarus would go to his family and warn them to repent. Abraham replied that his brothers had Moses and the Prophets telling them how to act and that if they would not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they would not be convinced by someone rising from the dead.

I don't know about Rob Denham, or any of the richest 1 percent who hold 46 percent of the world's wealth, but I err on the side of doing unto others as I would have them do unto me. I don't need Lazarus, or Jacob Marley for that matter, to remind me to care for those less fortunate. I am far more worried about the multi-billionaire Waltons making American taxpayers foot the bill for the food stamps, Medicaid and other government programs needed to support their overworked and underpaid employees (to the tune of up to $1 million a store), than the small amount (1 percent) of actual food stamp fraud. Meanwhile Wal-Mart received 61 government subsidies worth $150 million. Who exactly are the welfare cheats?

It shouldn't take quotes from the Bible or any other Holy Book to make people realize that there is something morally wrong in the richest country in the world when millions of people are hungry, homeless, and hopeless. Greed has propelled this downward spiral and nothing but charity and a change of heart by those most fortunate among us will change that.